Courtyard garden design and ideas
Courtyard garden design means planting a small space enclosed by walls or fences: paving or gravel underfoot, climbers on the walls, a few large pots or raised beds, and a seat in the sunniest corner.
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Real courtyard garden ideas
Courtyard garden pictures from real gardens redesigned with the app, small courtyard ideas for the space behind the house. Tap Before to see how each started, or Get this garden to try the look on yours.
Small courtyard garden ideas
Beautiful small courtyard gardens behind the house, paved in stone or brick and planted to the walls. 5 gardens
Small shady courtyard
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Rose and foxglove courtyard
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Herringbone brick path and cottage borders
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Patio and small lawn with cottage borders
Get this garden →Side passage and corner ideas
Side passages and bare corners turned into a path or a bed of their own. 3 gardens
Shady side passage
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A narrow side passage turned into a stone path between white roses and hostas
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Grasses and daisies in a bare corner
Get this garden →How to design a courtyard garden
The few ideas behind the gardens above, and how to plan a courtyard of your own from them.
What makes a good courtyard garden
Walls are the making of it. They hold the warmth, shelter tender plants and give climbers something to cover, so the space can feel like an outdoor room. Good enclosed courtyard ideas keep the floor simple, one paving or one gravel, and let planting soften every edge.
Plant the walls first
In a small space the walls are the biggest surface you have. Train a climber up each one, star jasmine, clematis or a climbing hydrangea on a shady wall, and fix a trellis where there is no soil to plant in. Height on the walls leaves the floor free for a table.
Pots, raised beds and the floor
Where the ground is paved, plant in raised beds and a few big pots rather than many small ones: three large pots in one colour look calmer than ten mixed. An olive, a bay or a clipped box ball gives each one a shape that lasts all year.
Light, shade and the foot of a wall
A shady courtyard garden is the normal case, not a problem: ferns, hostas, heuchera and fatsia are at their best out of the sun. The half metre at the foot of a wall is the driest ground there is, because the wall takes the rain, so plants there need watering until they settle.
See it on your own garden first
Garden Design App redesigns your courtyard from a photo. It reads a picture of your space, keeps the walls, paving and doors exactly where they are, and redesigns the planting with plants you could genuinely grow.
From an idea to a plan you can plant
When one of the designs clicks, the Pro and Max plans turn it into a planting plan: every plant named, how big each grows and where each goes, with a month by month flowering calendar so the courtyard has something in flower from spring to autumn.
12 plants for a courtyard garden
Plants chosen for walls, pots and the shelter of an enclosed space, sun or shade.
- Tree ferns
- Ferns
- Hostas
- Climbing hydrangea
- Star jasmine
- Acers
- Camellia
- Fatsia
- Hakonechloa
- Heuchera
- Japanese anemones
- Box or evergreen balls
More courtyard garden ideas
Roses, foxgloves and stone paths fill the small gardens and courtyards among our cottage garden ideas.
Gravel courtyards with olive trees in pots, and with dahlias and cannas, are our Mediterranean courtyard garden ideas.
For a tiny space with no walls to speak of, see our small garden ideas.
Courtyard garden design questions
What is a courtyard garden?
A small garden enclosed by walls, fences or buildings on most sides, usually paved or gravelled and often right outside the house. The walls give shelter and warmth, which is why a courtyard can grow plants an open garden cannot.
How do I make a courtyard garden?
Clear it back to the walls and the floor and decide where the seat goes. Then plant the walls with climbers and the floor with a few large pots or raised beds, repeating two or three plants so the space reads as one garden.
What plants are good for a courtyard garden?
Climbers for the walls, like star jasmine and clematis; evergreens for shape, like box, bay, olive and fatsia; and lush leaves for shade, like ferns, hostas and heuchera. In a sunny courtyard, lavender, rosemary and agapanthus do well in pots.
Can I use courtyard ideas at the front of the house?
Yes. Courtyard ideas for front of house gardens work wherever a wall or fence encloses the space: keep a clear path to the door, plant climbers on the boundary and put the colour in a few large pots.
Can I see a courtyard garden on my own garden?
Yes. Add a photo of your courtyard, choose the courtyard style, and see it redesigned in about a minute. Your walls, paving and doors stay.
Are the plants real, and can I buy them?
Yes. With the Pro and Max plans every design names its plants: garden centre favourites and RHS Award of Garden Merit winners, chosen by a professional gardener, with how big each grows and where each goes.
Is it free?
Your first 3 designs are free, with no card needed. The Pro plan is £29 and the Max plan is £49, paid once, with nothing to cancel.
Can I try more than one courtyard garden idea?
Yes. Make different designs and compare them on your own garden. Your first 3 are free, and Pro, one payment of £29, gives you 20 designs over 14 days, two at a time, so you can see several looks side by side.
Why does my redesign look like high summer?
We show your garden at its peak, in full flower, so you can see how full it can look. It is an artist's impression: your real garden changes through the seasons. Every paid design comes with a flowering calendar, so you know what flowers each month, and evergreen shapes help it look good in winter.
Turn your courtyard into an outdoor room.
Try any of these courtyard garden ideas on your own courtyard in about a minute. Your first 3 designs are free.
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